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My last post was about walking, so it is probably not so surprising that I have been remembering my experience on the Dharma Yatra in southern France. It’s a silent group walk through the countryside with Dharma teachings at night and the focus on walking mediation “in the beauty and simplicity of Nature, being together [...] I found the blog post below in my email drafts. I have no idea why I didn’t post it at the time, twelve months ago, but its sentiments are deeply consonant with the current events of my life. As I was walking home through the park one afternoon last week I became aware of myself [...] Two things have really inspired me to work on my intentions for 2011. The first is being in a relationship where we are trying to consciously build a mature crucible of relationship together that is a reflection of integral living, or self actualisation-in-togetherness. To do this we’re in a process of examining each aspect of [...] This year has been deeply shaped for me by committing to undergoing the process of psychoanalysis. I started wondering yesterday about how this process of diving deep into the historical well of emotions sits against the philosophies and experiences from my years of formal training in Zen and Vipassana. Can psychoanalysis and buddhist practice genuinely [...] I woke from dreams a few mornings ago with the name Sisyphus on my mind. “Sisyphus, Sisyphyus” I repeated to myself, not knowing whose name it was. Being a digital information age, I found him swiftly. Sisyphus, of Greek mythological fame, was a king of Corinth who was cursed to roll a huge stone up [...] “As philosopher David Hume explained, witnesses are necessary in all societies when it comes to important vows. The reason is that it’s not possible to tell whether a person is telling the truth or lying when he speaks a promise. The speaker may have, as Hume called it, “a secret discretion of thought” [...] Since, I’m focused on moving my way through thinking deeply about ethics and commitment to them, with the Buddhist precepts as a guide, it was a blessing to find Shahara Godfrey speaking at the San Francisco very beautiful Zen center last night. Shahara spoke on wise speech as life long practice. Listening to her [...] mural by Beth Sauerhaft I’ve been reflecting on the experience of the Women’s Integral retreat which ran in Bali in March this year, and some of the key themes that arose between us, such as finding our voice and our passions, and being in community with other women, and how we’ll be working with [...] I’ve been thinking alot recently about the process of commitment: the taking of vows that form a compass for living. I spent a couple of years under a Zen teacher and have ever since then harboured a fascination for the process of the taking of precepts in Zen practice. The Ten Grave Precepts Affirm life; [...] I’ve been reading Judith Pickering’s wonderful book “Being In Love: Therapeutic Pathways Through Psychological Obstacles to Love”. I’ve been long interested in our ‘heroic task’ as humans, that is, how we come to understand who we are. My own relationship, alongside Dr Pickering’s very sage guidance, been clearly illuminated for me that fundamental to [...] |
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